A fair, balanced response to Duffy

Senator Mike Duffy made a stop in Amherst last week to speak to the Cumberland North Progressive Conservative party faithful, but it was the shots he took at his former profession that have grabbed more attention.

The long-time former CTV broadcaster, who ended a 40-year journalism career in 2008 by accepting a Senate appointment from Prime Minister Stephen Harper, a move that may have come as a shock to those who had always considered him an impartial observer of the affairs on Parliament Hill.

In his speech, Duffy criticized journalism schools such as the University of King's College for apparently producing leftist graduates schooled on the writings of Noam Chomsky and the theory of critical thinking.

He went on to lament the good old days, when reporters like himself graduated from the "school of hard knocks" to become "fair and balanced." Perhaps he was referring to "fair and balanced" as the slogan for Fox News, an American TV station notorious for its right-wing slant.

Duffy himself certainly showed little fairness or balance towards the end of his journalism career, when he and CTV Atlantic news anchor Steve Murphy chose to air outtakes of an interview between Murphy and then-Liberal leader Stephane Dion, who had become rightfully confused by a question from Murphy that had mixed tenses. That incident of questionable journalism had a major impact on the 2008 election.

There is also an ethical argument about whether active journalists should accept Senate appointments.

The point is that Senator Duffy is in no position to be throwing stones.